Steinberger Guitars Spirit XT-2 Standard Bass HR

I bought this as a travel bass, I need to practice when I'm on holiday, and I needed a bass that doesn't take up half of the space in the car. I do not usually rate passive basses, and this is only the second one I have bought in more that 2 decades - I sold the other one because it sounded so dull.
Pros: number one, much smaller overall than a conventional bass, so it immediately fulfils it's role as a travel instrument. The flip down body rest makes it easy to keep on your lap when sitting down. Stays in tune amazingly well. Very glossy and almost blemish free finish - I'll come to that in the cons. The neck is comfortable and the gloss finish slippery enough. The most surprising thing for me was the sound - really full and with a very usable tone control. I usually find that passive basses are a bit dull, especially the low end, and especially if they have humbuckers - I like single coils on a bass. This, however, astonished me. I shall be using this as my spare gigging bass - an outcome I did not anticipate when I bought it.
Cons: balance on a strap is not the best, but it is so relatively light that this is not a huge annoyance. Double ball end - buy a Steinberg adaptor so that you can use a much larger range of strings. Missing one star for features as I remember the Hohner from the 90s that was active - if it was active it would probably be even better. Almost missing one star for quality as there are a few spots of paint overspray on the edge of the fretboard and on a couple of fret ends. They appear to have been varnished over, so can't really be removed. I am nit picking, I didn't notice this until I'd been playing it for a week. Now I have had it for a while on more small thing that might nor suit everyone. If you want a really low action then you might find the action does not go low enough for you. That said, IMO too low an action on a bass is self defeating - it means the strings are not free to vibrate enough and completely ruins the tone.
Conclusion: absolutely recommend this is you need something not too large, and also really as a second pro bass. I actually really like this odd looking thing. The more I play it the more I like its tight almost compressed tones. I may be in love.

I bought this bass a few years ago from Thomann and still enjoy using it from time to time. I purchased the bass and had it shipped to Canada in preparation of a 1980's theme party my band was playing. The bass arrived in perfect condition, I just had to do a little setup (tweek the truss rod and adjust pickups and intonation) and it was perfect. Lots of fun and a good little bass to keep around in the studio.